A typical vehicle door is formed of inner and outer sheet metal panels which are joined together to form an interior cavity which may carry a side impact reinforcement. The upper edges of the inner and outer door panels define a slot through which a window glass moves between raised and lowered positions.
The window elevation control mechanism, door locks, outside mirror controls, etc., are carried in the door between the inner and outer panels.
A deflector, which may have acoustic noise reduction properties, is formed as a sheet and attached, typically by adhesive, along its outer periphery to the inner door sheet metal panel to seal the interior of the vehicle from the external environment as well as providing acoustic reduction properties from exterior noise.
An inner door trim panel, typically formed of a plastic-based material, is mounted on the inner door sheet metal, usually by means of clips. The door trim panel carries the door or hardware control actuators, such as the door lock handle, the external mirror control switches, and the door elevating control handle or push buttons in the case of a motor driven door window elevating mechanism. The actuators extend through corresponding apertures in the deflector and connect to the appropriate mechanisms mounted in the door.
The inner trim panel sometimes carries an inner belt weather strip which is attached to an upper edge of the trim panel and has an inner surface, typically xe2x80x9cflockedxe2x80x9d or low coefficient of friction coating, which engages the window during raising and lowering movements. The inner belt weather strip typically includes a channel to divert water, dirt and/or condensation build-up on the inner surface of the window away from the vehicle interior. The inner belt weather strip is attached to the door trim panel by any of a number of different fastening mechanisms including integrated fasteners, push pins, staples, etc.
A lower door seal may also be provided at a lower edge of the door trim panel to seal the lower edge of the door to the vehicle sill plate and to act as a secondary seal for noise, dirt, water, etc., intrusion into the vehicle passenger compartment. The lower door seal is attached to the inner door panel by various joining techniques, such as push pins, adhesive tape, etc.
A trend in current vehicle door design is increased levels of modularity in which more and more components are assembled into a complete module for faster and easier assembly to the vehicle in the vehicle production plant. One trend option is leading to the mounting of all of the door window, door lock and external mirror control hardware and actuators onto the inner door trim panel. Cables or other connectors extend from the appropriate hardware and actuators on the trim panel to the window, door lock mechanism and mirror controls mounted in the door sheet metal panels. However, these connectors or cables must still pass through the deflector to the cavity in the inner/outer door sheet metal.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an integral vehicle door protector module having increased modularity to simplify the vehicle door assembly process.
The present invention is a unitary door protector module which is mountable on the vehicle door in a single assembly operation.
In one aspect, the door protector module includes an inner belt weatherstrip, a shield and a lower door seal which are unitarily joined together as a one piece module adapted for unitary attachment to the inner door trim panel and/or the inner door panel of the vehicle door.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for manufacturing a unitary door protector module comprises the step of:
providing an inner belt weatherstrip, a shield and a lower door seal; and
joining the inner belt weatherstrip, the shield and the lower door seal into a unitary, one piece module for attachment to one of the inner door trim panel and the inner door panel of the vehicle door.
The unitary door protector module of present invention uniquely combines multiple components which were previously individually mounted to a vehicle door in the door assembly operation into a single, unitary module which can be mounted on the vehicle door in a single assembly operation. This reduces manufacturing costs by reducing the number of separate components which must be separately installed on the vehicle door, minimizes worker assembly time, reduces assembly line length, and increases reliability of the door since the individual door protector components can be pre-assembled and tested for quality before assembly on the vehicle door.